It's a Matter of Red
by TheOnlyK
Summary: While Marshall Lee and Fionna are out beating up Rock trolls, the situation goes awry. When Marshall Lee can't reach the adventuress in time, she is saved by... a dragon? How will this turn out when Marshall Lee notices the dragon's scales are almost completely red... **Rating may change as the story progresses (Not a true Fiolee story. More of a love triangle thing)


Author's Note: I do not own or have anything to do with the creation, publication, design, etc. of Adventure Time

In the land of AAH, it was almost evening and all the inhabitants of the land were settling down for the night. All except two friends, a vampire and a heroine, who were chasing down a Rock Troll in the Elephant tree forest for terrorizing the hyoomans.

"Marshall! He's coming your way!" Even before she said that, Marshall Lee could hear the thudding stomps of the Rock troll coming towards him as young elephant trees shook when the monster moved past. He clutched his axe—bass tightly and held it up like a bat. A cocky smile etched its way onto his grey, hooded face. The troll lifted its singular stony brow in shock as it came crashing out of the wood work.

"Batter up!" Marshall shouted as his axe—bass connected with the troll's neck. The beast had no time to dodge the deadly blow. When Marshall Lee's female heroine friend leapt out from the leafy bushes and giant trees, she was greeted with Marshall's signature smirk and the troll's head lying at her feet. Seconds later, the head fell apart and was just a pile of rocks in the grass. "Good thing the sun was at my back or this could've turned out messy." The teen vampire smiled.

The adventurer's shoulders slumped when she looked down at the pile of debris. "I was supposed to get it this time…" Fionna pouted. Marshall couldn't help but laugh at the girl. She had twigs and leaves that clung to her body in every direction. She looked like she had gotten into a fight with a forest witch.

Marshall's chuckle grew louder. "Too slow Joe." He stated and stuck his forked tongue out at her. Obviously not sorry about stealing her prize in the least. Fionna's pout turned into a glare and her hands started to curl up. "Oh no," Marshall Lee started in mock fright, "looks like I ticked off the big bad adventurer—"

That did it.

Suddenly, Fionna was charging Marshall Lee; her hands twisted into fists as she lunged for him. He dodged her easily enough; floating just out of reach when she came at him again. "You butt!" The young heroine shouted. This only made the Vampire King laugh harder. Glob how he loved to mess with her. They had been friends for three years (Fionna being fifteen when they met) and he still loved pushing her buttons. It was the only time he could show her some of his true, genuine self….

Abruptly, Fionna stopped trying to tear the vampire a new one and looked towards the overgrown forest. She started walking towards the tree line, keen on something. Marshall Lee watched her from above curiously. "Hey, Fi, what's—"

Fionna swiftly looked up to the floating vampire and pressed a finger to her lips. "SHHHhh!" She pointed towards the trees. Marshall couldn't hide the annoyed look on his face for being shushed, but had let it slide. He tuned his ears to the sounds of the forest. The enormous trees obscured any on goings within the forest, but not the sounds. At first he didn't hear anything particularly odd. There was a nearby bee hive, plenty of crickets chirping and there was the occasional squawk of a bird, but nothing—

CRRRROOOOAAAAARRRR!

—odd? _**Another troll?**_ He thought to himself. When Marshall went to look down at his friend, she was already past the tree line with her sword swinging by her side. Panic spread through him like a bad chill. Fionna was already beat from fighting _one_ troll; she couldn't handle a second one on her own. "Fi! Wait up!" Marshall Lee called out, almost begging. It only took a minute to catch up to Fionna, but one look at her face told him she wouldn't just walk away. Her hero instinct would NEVER allow that. Besides, it was too late to turn back.

The duo came to a small clearing with what was possibly the most ginormous Elephant tree of all at the center. Fionna's eyes flew to the high branches of the ancient tree. Two little blue, four-legged creatures hid up in the branches as their tiny feet clung desperately to the bark. AAh's Heroine followed the terrified gaze of the creatures down to the base of the tree where a HUGE, like three stories tall huge, Rock troll was tearing away at the trees roots. However, the monster didn't seem to pay any attention to the babies in the branches high above. Oh no, it was much more intent on capturing the third blue creature that cowered in the tangled tree roots. The troll was only a few roots away from snatching up the terrified creature and toppling the enormous tree.

"I don't globbing think so!" Fionna shouted as she drove her crystal sword into the rock thigh of troll. Gravel rushed out from the wound as the monster cried out in agony. The agonized groan turned into a roar of fury as it turned on the heroine. Its fist rose up above her, threatening to turn her into a pile of goo. Just as it was about to bring its fist crashing down, Marshall Lee sent his axe bass straight into the side of the troll's boulder head. For a moment, the Rock troll stood there stunned before toppling over onto its side. Several tense moments passed by. It didn't move. After Fionna stabbed its leg again, just to be sure, the two let out a sigh of relief. Marshall finally retrieved his bass from the monster's head.

He looked over at Fionna and, to his surprise, she was pouting at him again. He looked at her quizzically. "You did it again Marshall Lee…" That's when he realized she was mad that he had taken the final blow from her. Anger ignited in the pit of his stomach. Glob, how he wanted to shake her and scream how dangerous that stunt of hers was. He wanted to yell at her for being so reckless, for not thinking first, for not thinking how her death might affect hi—…. Instead he just shrugged and masked his ire with a smirk.

"My bad." Was all he said. He worried anymore words would cause him to say something he'd regret. Fionna was just about to pursue the subject when a faint guttural whimper echoed from under the tree's trunk and drew the teens' attentions. Fionna quickly knelt down and peered into he splintered and ravaged remains of the roots and dirt. In the darkest and most root—filled corner were two glowing, yellow eyes peering back at her. She pulled her head out and glanced up at her nocturnal friend's hooded face. "See if you can get the two up in the branches down. I'll see about getting this one to come out."

"Fi…," Marshall began carefully, "We don't know what these… _things_ are. For all we know, they could be poisonous, or suck souls out of unsuspecting heroines…." Fionna rolled her eyes at him, even though he was actually being semiserious for once.

"You're the Vampire King Marsh. I doubt these little guys could do anything to hurt _you_." _**It's not me I'm worried about you poobrain.**_ Marshall groaned inwardly. At this point, Marshall knew arguing with the adventurer would be pointless and began a slow ascent up to the leafy branches high above, facing away from the sun.

**Marshall's POV**

As I neared the branches the two tiny beasts were clinging to, they bolted as far out onto the branch as they possibly could. I easily floated towards them, cutting off their only escape route.

"Nice try." I smirked. At the sight of my fangs the bigger of the two squeaked a snarl at me, the Vampire King. I only chuckled, internally applauding the thing for trying to be tough. Inspecting the two blue creatures closer, I noticed some very interesting features. Both had extremely long tails with tiny spiked, arrow—shaped tips as well as miniature claws that gripped the tree bark mercilessly. They had indigo blue, scaly skin with creamy underbellies and two tiny stubs for horns just barely breaking the surface on either side of their heads; long snouts cylinder-like ears and big yellow, cat-like eyes. What interested him the most, were the singular orbs each had imbedded in their chests. One was orange with flecks of brown with the other was white with flecks of purple. I know _**I have seen these creatures before… but where? When?**_ For the moment I pushed the questions aside and returned to the task at hand: getting these little guys down.

"Alright guys," I whispered, "let's just take it easy and—" as I reached out for the two, the one who had hissed earlier, with the orange gem, snapped at me. I barely managed to pull my fingers away in time. "HEY!" I growled and immediate irritation took me. After several attempts at grabbing the nippy pests, I had half a mind to push them off the branch… In the end I decided Fionna would be better suited for this stuff.

"Fionna, "I playful whined, "I can't do this—" My eyes flashed open as dread, no, terror coursed through me. Branches slapped and grabbed at me as I raced back towards the ground my hood flew back. I could smell my skin burn in the evening light of the sun, but I didn't care. I forced myself to fly faster. _**NONONONONONONNO**_ "FIONNA! LOOK OUT! I screamed.

**FIONNA'S POV**

As soon as Marshall Lee started going up, I put my head back down into the hole created by the Rock troll. The pair of eyes watched me suspiciously. When I tried to reach out to it, the little guy tried to bite me! When I caught a glimpse of those dagger—shaped teeth, I decided it would be best not to try and grab it.

"It's okay," I cooed softly, "the big bad monster is gone now. He can't hurt you anymore." The little beast stayed put in its hideaway. "I'm not going to hurt you. See, I'm a hero." By now my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and could make out the outline of the thing's head. Rounded at the crown and ended with a small snout. It cocked its head at me as if it had understood my words. As crazy as that was, I went with it. "Do you know what heroes do?" No response. "… they help others. Will you let me help you?" After a few suspenseful moments, the little guy started to move. As it came closer, always watching me, I saw it had a long neck and two stubby horns with a beautiful green orb—shaped gem sitting right above the chest and between its collar bones… if it had those types of bones. Slowly I reached out to it. The reptilian stopped and eyed my hands. "It's okay… it's okay." I whispered. Needless to say, I was surprised when it let me pick it up and pull it out from under the tree. Out in the retreating daylight, the indigo scales looked amazing in the reds and pinks coming from the sky. They sparkled and shimmered every time the little guy squirmed. I set him, at this time I decided it was better to give a gender than to keep calling him an 'it', in my lap. "See? I'm not a bad guy." I smiled down at those wide, curious snake eyes. His eyes turned into half—moons. _**Was he smiling at me?**_ _**Okay this had to be the cutest little—**_

All of a sudden, the sun was gone and all I heard was Marshall scream, "FIONNA! LOOK OUT!"

**NORMAL POV**

Fionna looked up in horror to see the Rock troll standing above her with his fist raised high above his head. She reached for her sword and only grasped air. To her disbelief, it was still in the monster's leg. _**I never pulled it back out.**_ She barely managed to roll out of the way of the troll's fist as it came crashing down. The mini earthquake and chunks of earth sent the baby creature flying from her arms. It landed just a few feet away, but when Fionna tried to get up, her left leg gave way to unbelievable pain. The baby scurried over to her, afraid. She picked it up and cradled him in her arms, trying to shield him from the coming blow. The Rock troll limped towards the two. Marshall Lee was still too high up to do anything. He was descending as fast as he could, but the sun was slowing him down. As the troll reached Fionna and the infant animal, Marshall reached out; hoping by some miracle he could grab her. But he was too far away. He couldn't save her. The troll raised up its thick, jagged arm. The world slowed down. Marshall Lee watched in horror as the arm started to come crashing down when a sudden flash of red zoomed by him. A roar tore through the air like thunder. In the time it took the vampire to blink, the rock troll was nothing but a pile of gravel; a pile of gravel under a very large, scaly foot with huge claws.

Marshall Lee stared in awe as the giant foot rose up to reveal a pile of harmless rubble..As he continued to race down the tree, Marshall watched breathlessly as Fionna came face to snout with the biggest dragon he had ever seen.

**END CHAPTER ONE**


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